Category: Plants

Agave Watch 1 February 2016

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the agave next door is still standing.

There was rain. And there was what seemed to be strong wind through the night. But it still stands.

Agave

I visited sloweather.com to find out what the agave survived.

Wind Speed Graph

The wind speed was a tad less than 25 mph.

Wind Gust Graph

The highest wind gusts were approximately 34 mph.

A tad windy, but not enough to topple the agave.

Over the past few months the agave has developed quite the tilt. It is difficult to actually see the tilt from my studio because the Brugmansia have leafed out, started to bloom, and are obscuring my view.

Agave from the Studio Window

This is the first image that I shot. It is dated 24 March 2015.

First Agave Image

Will the agave still be standing 24 March 2016?

Agave and Hawks

Recently we have been seeing hawks in our neighborhood. The past week there was one perched in the top of the agave. Yes, the agave still stands. I watched the hawk for several minutes. It was grooming itself until a pair of doves attempted to land on the agave. Suddenly, it stretched out its wings and took flight after the startled doves.

Hawk in the Agave

Yesterday there was a thump on the kitchen door. We found this little hawk.

Hawk in Courtyard

We have a bird feeder in the courtyard that attracts finches, sparrows, blue jays, and doves. Perhaps the hawk came for breakfast. After several minutes the hawk flew away.

Slat Book and the Bead Loom

Last night I was looking through some work in progress and saw a bead loom. It was a gift that I never used, but thought it might come in handy for something, some day.

Bead Loom

A bead loom is basically springs attached to a wood frame. In my limited use of springs, it makes sense that a larger spring would work when weaving thicker fiber.

Something that did occur to me when removing the piece from the loom, it would be a good idea to place a rod next to the spring and wrap the fiber around the rod before placing in the spring.

Bead Loom With Rod

After quickly trying my idea, I found that there was a need for clamps to the hold the rod in place.

Back to the weaving experiment: I strung the bead loom with some nettle and started weaving. I used cream wool, nettle, and Tecoma pods.

Bead Loom Result

The result is exciting because it might be the solution to my slat book problem. I plan to use Pandorea jasminoides parts, stitched with a letter in code.

Plant Bits

Slat books typically use regular shaped pieces for each of the slats. The Pandorea jasminoides parts are a variety of widths and lengths. I really like them because they bring to mind shields.

If I were to use a similar weaving process, I think it just might work. I plan to try using three strand of nettle on each side leaving the central section of the Pandorea jasminoides parts open for easy reading of the code. Well, maybe not actually easy reading. It will be code.

Slat Book with information about the plant materials and code posted on September 17th, 2015

Slat Book with information about glycerin and code posted on October 11th, 2015

Serendipitous events can result in great ideas.
Or, discovery makes making art so much fun.

Potential New Art Material–Tecoma stans

I have been watching this plant for a few months.

Tecoma Leaves

Tecoma Flowers

When I first saw it there were thin bean-like green pods. I thought that they would be a possible art material. Curious about the pods. How would they change with age?

Tecoma Flowers and Pods

Tecoma Seeds

Tecoma Parts

The reddish-brown speckled pods bring to mind young birch branches.

Tecoma Pods

Hope to weave them with wool and cotton fiber. Unfortunately, they are quite fragile. In the past I would have used hot wax to make them more usable, to give them strength to withstand the stitching and weaving processes. Thinking about giving them a soak in glycerin.